


Frozen Tears

by BlueTwilight



Category: MindCrack
Genre: Gen, Prompt Fill, Sad Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-20
Updated: 2013-10-20
Packaged: 2018-02-07 17:43:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1907991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueTwilight/pseuds/BlueTwilight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pause goes to check on Beef after a blizzard and sees something he wishes he hadn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Frozen Tears

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt fill for Nann

It was a beautiful, winter’s day. The ground was covered in a thick layer of snow which, undisturbed, looked like someone had spilled cotton all over the land. _Shame that I have to come along and mess it all up._ I thought wistfully and kicked a plume of snow into the air. I drew the hood of my coat tightly over my head as a frigid wind blew into my face. I had been reluctant to bundle myself up in this stuffy coat, since I usually preferred to go topless. The cold was unrelenting, though, and I was forced to at least wear something or risk being killed by this merciless winter. Ordinarily I wouldn’t have been out in the cold to begin with, but last night’s blizzard had me worried about a certain friend of mine. VintageBeef was not known to throw caution to the wind, but for some reason I had the feeling that I should at least go check on him. If nothing else, we could grumble about the weather together and share a cup of coffee. Maybe he would even invite me to stay the night.

The thought of being in the company of a good friend put a grin on my face as I approached Beef’s front door. I knocked and, when I received no answer, knocked again. Perhaps I was too impatient, or perhaps I was just eager to get out of the cold, but it seemed like Beef was taking an abnormally long time to answer the door. I looked up toward the sky and saw that the sun was beginning to set. _Maybe he went to bed early?_ It was entirely plausible. After all, there was nothing really to do on a snowy day other than sleep. The imagery of falling into a deep slumber under the warmth of many blankets made me even more impatient than I already was.

“BEEF! Open up!” I hammered on the door again, but to no avail. I huffed in annoyance, my breath turning to mist in the cold air. Grudgingly, I made my way around the house to my friend’s bedroom window with the intent of waking him up by knocking on the glass. What I saw, however, was much more concerning than a sleeping Beef.

Beef’s room was a disaster. His dresser was overturned, collection of books scattered everywhere, and bed sheets ripped. _Is that a bloodstain on the floor?!_ The sight of the red streak across the wood floor made my stomach twist. What could have possibly happened here?! My heart raced at all of the possibilities running through my mind. I had to find Beef and make sure that he was alright. Now that I was in a state of emergency, I had no qualms with kicking down the front door. My body was weakened by the cold, so it took me a few tries before the door tumbled down under the force of my booted foot.

Upon stepping foot into the house, I immediately knew something was wrong. Much like the bedroom, all of the furniture in the living area was askew. I walked through the room in a state of semi-consciousness, as if in a dream world. It was difficult to comprehend what I was seeing, but I tried to stay focused regardless. After noticing that the temperature in the house matched that of the biting chill outside, I approached the fireplace and carefully placed a finger on the ashes within. The fire that usually warmed the house looked as though it had long since burned out, leaving behind nothing but cold ashes. Whatever happened here took place quite some time ago.

Only after my examination of the fireplace did I see the blood out of the corner of my eye. The pool of red had seeped under the door that separated the living room from the kitchen. I could smell its metallic tang from where I stood; a good four meters away.

“Beef?” A high-pitched whine was all I could choke out. No response. Beef never kept me waiting before. The thought of what could lie beyond that door had me in a full-on panic. My breath shortened and my vision blurred. Despite the cold, I began to sweat profusely. The twitch that developed in my lip alerted me to the symptoms I knew all too well. I recognized the beginnings of an anxiety attack and, having past experience in the area, began to go through the motions of calming myself down. _It’s fine… there’s a perfectly good explanation for this._ Deep breaths. Happy thoughts. I just had to picture myself walking through that door and finding Beef waiting for me on the other side, unharmed. The thought of his smile was what finally calmed me down. Slowly, I closed the distance between myself and the door. I placed a hand firmly on the handle and, after taking one last deep breath, turned it.

What I saw on the other side sent me into a state of complete numbness. Not in a figurative sense either; I literally could not feel anything other than a light tingling sensation all over. It was as if my body was trying to convince itself that it was in a dream. No, there was no way Beef was dead. I wasn’t actually seeing him lying in a pool of his own blood. People didn’t even _have_ that much blood, silly. It was impossible that there was a hole where Beef’s stomach used to be, providing a window into the inner workings of his digestive system. No one would do that to my Beef. Clearly this was a poorly thought-out dream, so there was no reason to stay here. I walked, as if under the influence of anesthesia, through the overturned living room and back out the front door.

The blissful numbness that had washed over me upon seeing the gory mess that was his body suddenly disappeared, as if the blast of cold air had knocked that warm blanket of nothingness out of my grasp. Despair held me in its tight grip now. I only had the chance to take two, shaking strides away from his doorstep before the agony prevented me from moving any further. I sunk to my knees and, knowing that no one was alive in this place to hear me, began to sob.

Crying, however, did nothing to relieve my pain. In fact, it was only intensified. It did not take long for the salty tears to cover my face. Before they had time to fall, the frigid air froze them in place. They clung to the skin of my cheeks, building up there until I had enough sense to wipe them away. But the tears would not relent so easily; they stuck to my skin like glue. In my delirious state, the stubborn tears angered me like nothing else. I wailed in fury and scratched at my face to get them off. My nails dug into my skin and drew blood, but I didn’t care. As long as I got these damn icicles off of me. The effort was useless though, since the frozen tears kept being replaced with fresh ones. Finally, after thoroughly mutilating my cheeks, I gave up. I slumped into a sitting position and continued my sobbing unabated.

I hugged myself to keep warm as I wept, but that was little protection against the biting chill of winter. Aside from my face being a frozen, bloody mess, the snow that I was sitting in had soaked straight through my pants and chilled my legs to the point of numbness. My lungs burned from constantly gasping in the freezing air, but no matter how hard I tried I could not stop sobbing. Every time I attempted to close my eyes and get a hold of myself, the image of his mutilated corpse would etch itself into the back of my eyelids and a fresh wave of tears would overcome me. Eventually, my body could take no more abuse. I hiccupped pathetically as I drifted off into unconsciousness, hoping and praying that I would just die there along with him.


End file.
